One More Night
by hbomba
Summary: A late night visitor challenges the parameters of their separation.
1. Chapter 1

Title: One More Night

Author: h-bomba

Rating: M

Summary: A late night visitor challenges the parameters of their separation.

Spoilers: 3x10

A/N: For Denise. I tried to write a fluffy fic but something went horribly awry. Which is why this story is a sort of choose your own adventure. I you want angst, read part 1 and 2. If you want something a bit more uplifting read parts 1 and 3. Or, if you want the whole experience read them both. Whatever you decide, please enjoy!

* * *

Once, there were simpler times. When love was all they had and all they needed, and none of the everyday bullshit that destroys relationships mattered. Of course, the everyday bullshit of a succubus could level a relationship before it even had a chance to get off the ground. They had been so careful, so open in the beginning and slowly it still slipped away from them. As Bo had discovered, lying to protect someone was still lying. She had betrayed a trust and they had never recovered.

And Lauren, poor Lauren, she had tried so desperately to pick up the pieces and hold them together that she had gotten lost in the process. How could this have gone so wrong when they loved each other as they did? The answer was simple enough for Bo. She was banging down Lauren's door at last call o'clock. She swore at the door to open when Lauren did not appear immediately and knocked again. The deadbolt clicked and the door opened slightly.

"Bo," she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?"

"Bo." Lauren cocked her head to the side realizing why Bo was there. "That won't solve anything."

Bo leaned on the door jam. "I want to talk to you."

"It's three in the morning."

"Like you never came calling at three in the morning?"

"That was different. That was…"

"A booty call?"

"For lack of a better word…"

"So can I come in?"

"Hands in your pockets."

"I'm not an animal, I can control myself," Bo said grouchily and then softened. "Even around beauty like yours."

Lauren smiled a sad smile and exhaled. She grabbed Bo's leather jacket and pulled her into her quarters. "You're not going to sweet talk me into bed either."

* * *

The kettle whistled and Lauren turned the burner off. She filled two cups, tea bags bobbing in the boiling water and turned to Bo who sat across from her on a stool at the island. It had been a month since Lauren had asked for the break. A month since Bo had been in her quarters and some time before that that she had been in her bed.

Bo smoothed her hand across the countertop. "So… How have you been?"

"Busy," Lauren said not wanting to tell her the rest. That she had to keep busy to avoid thinking about Bo and locking herself away to cry. Kleenex had made a mint on her since their break.

"Yeah, uh, me too." Bo sighed.

Lauren knew that Bo had been in seclusion. She knew this because Kenzi had told her. One drunken night at the Dal, Kenzi had spilled it all. That Bo was carrying on worse than she did after Dyson, that they hadn't had a case in weeks and yes, she even begged the doctor to take her back.

The cup rang as she stirred the tea. She looked at her reflection in the cups and took a deep breath before she turned to meet Bo's gaze. She stood, pinned by Bo's stare. Lauren bowed her head and stepped toward her, sliding the tea cup in front of her.

Lauren lifted her cup to her lips. "What can I do for you?"

"This is weird. Don't you feel weird?" Bo said, running a finger around the rim of her tea cup. "Tea, really?"

"I thought it might help soothe your nerves." Lauren set her saucer down on the counter. "You look like you could use it." She gestured at Bo's tea cup. "Drink, please."

Looking into the cup momentarily, Bo lifted her head to match Lauren's expression. "You know it's not your job to take care of me anymore."

"It's just tea." Lauren set her cup down noisily. "Maybe you should go."

"Because we disagreed about tea?" Bo picked up her cup and drank from it. "Is that better?"

"Bo, I'm tired." Lauren sighed. "What do you want?"

Bo stood and approached Lauren. "I want you."

"I need time, Bo." She looked away.

Sidling up to Lauren, she leaned into her body. "How long are we going to pretend that this break is doing anything for anyone except making us miserable?" Her voice grew quiet. "And I don't want to be miserable anymore."

Leaning in to kiss her, Bo let her lips brush against Lauren's as if asking permission. Lauren's breath hitched in her throat at the contact. She shouldn't, she knew that, but it didn't stop her from pressing her lips against Bo's with conviction. It was a hungry kiss, borne of need and longing.

When Lauren broke away, her chest heaved with effort. Bo wore her best come-fuck-me smile as she spoke. "Look Ma, no hands." Bo held up her hands playfully.

"Bo," she said, her tone a warning. "We can't."

Bo pulled away. "You never think it's the last time until it's over. Lauren, I gotta know if this is it."

She wrestled with what to say. There was no letting Bo down easy, things had gotten way out of hand and now Lauren had to deal with the fallout. "I don't know."

Bo looked away, fast losing her fight. Nothing was more difficult than watching Bo leave that day after her attack. She wanted to tell her to stay, to hold her while she cried. Instead she let her go and sobbed on the couch alone before turning up at the Dal. She went there to take the edge off half-hoping to run into Bo to call it off. In the days following, her resolve grew in Bo's absence. She turned it over and over in her mind for days and weeks on end. She had been hurt deeply by Tamsin's revelation but she had never spoken to Bo about it. Instead, she let herself grudge. She let it grow in her belly until it was a seed of discontent. And she used it to convince herself that she wasn't the one for Bo.

But tonight, seeing Bo after all that time, she felt alive again. Her skin prickled by goosebumps when their lips had met, the flood of heat spreading through her body. She lifted a hand to Bo's cheek and turned to face her. "One more night," Lauren nodded.

At this Bo looked sad, more than when she had arrived. Lauren wondered about the logic involved in her decision but decided it didn't matter. She wanted Bo and Bo wanted her, one more night might decide things that Lauren felt unable to resolve.


	2. Chapter 2

She was mourning them as she laid her hands on Lauren. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she touched her, knowing this was it. This was for keeps and there was no escaping how much she'd miss how Lauren reacted to her touch. There was no avoiding the terrible conclusion. She wanted to feel the passion that only Lauren brought to their encounters. She also wanted to feed off Lauren to take something away with her that would forever be a part of her. But there was none of either.

Apparently, when you know it's your last time it becomes this horrible mess of feelings and awkward sexual situations. There was no joy to their movements, no palpable passion. Instead there was fear and regret. Despite how much she had wanted this, Bo realized they had only opened a bigger can of worms.

Lauren was on top of her, eyes closed, still trying to pretend that this was a good idea. Her eyes were glassy when they finally opened to look at Bo. The look they shared was one of pain. Even as their bodies moved together and arousal mounted, there was only pain and loss. Each touch, each kiss found them both on the edge of tears. If Bo had to rate it, it would have been the worst sex of her life and that's saying something for a succubus.

After their bodies stilled, she found herself entangled with Lauren as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Lauren brushed the hair away from her forehead and held her as she cried despite being on the edge of tears herself. As they grew weary, Bo whispered, "I love you." It was the last thing she remembered before slumber took hold.

* * *

She awoke to the rustle of clothing. Her hand shot out and smoothed over the sheet beside her, empty yet still warm from its occupation. Her eyes opened and everything came flooding back. The painful reunion she and Bo had shared was baffling to Lauren. She never dreamed sex with an ex could be so sorrowful. Did she really consider Bo an ex?

"Hey," Bo said. "I'm just gonna go." She pulled on a boot and zipped it up.

Lauren sat up. "Bo," she started. She felt like she needed to apologize. To take the embarrassment and sting out of what they had done. There was no closure here, just a gaping hole where love used to live. Maybe it was still there, Lauren thought, she was just too numbed by her logical mind to acknowledge the possibility.

"Look, Lauren…" she sighed. "I never wanted to make this weirder. I just thought we could reconnect, now I see that I was wrong."

Lauren was speechless. Maybe in another six months they could forget this ever happened and come together joyfully. Or maybe they never would come together again and this broken hearted feeling in her chest would remain, only to be ignited whenever they saw each other at the Dal or when Bo needed help with a case. Maybe that's how it had to be. A love like theirs burned too bright, too fast, and threatened too much to last.

She was just a human, after all. And Bo was the most powerful Fae Lauren had ever the pleasure of studying, personally and professionally. She was bewitched the first time they met and she never was the same again. Regret crept in and put a stranglehold on her heart. She wanted to cry out don't leave, don't ever leave me but instead she nodded to Bo, who slipped on her other boot and zipped it with a finality before standing before her.

Bo fastened her thigh holster to her leg.

"Lauren," she said, her voice growing softer. Lauren knew there was something yet unspoken between them. Bo sat on the edge of the bed. "I'll never forget what you've done for me."

Lauren considered this and then nodded. If this was the end Lauren needed to tell her she would never forget what Bo had done for her either. She had routinely defended Lauren's freedom, defended her virtue and humanity. Bo had made her feel positively normal in a wholly abnormal reality that they lived. Perhaps that's what stung most? She would no longer have a traveling companion in the wild, wild world of Fae. But she knew on some level that Bo would always remain her protector. She was not afraid to be on her own again, but there was a bittersweet ache in her chest as she pondered the possibilities.

Lauren smiled at Bo and covered Bo's hand with her own. Her heart ached as Bo smiled back her. It was the pain in her eyes that told the real story. What they had done that night had stomped out the embers that were left burning when they last parted. But as they were extinguished, the promise of a spark of renewal clung to them.

Bo would always remain her one great love. The one that overshadowed all the others with its bravery and strength. The one she never thought would end but like everything in her unforgiving world, it had.

Bo kissed her on the cheek and turned to go. At the bedroom's doorway, she twisted to take one last glance at Lauren. "Bo," Lauren called after her, clinging to a sheet against her breasts. "I love you, too."

Bo smiled then. A sad little smile that betrayed her intentions. "I know," she said as she disappeared into the darkness of the doorway.

* * *

Fin.


	3. Chapter 3

She moved over Lauren, their skin sticky with sweat. Propped up on her elbow, she looked down at her and lowered her mouth to Lauren's. There was nothing shy or unfamiliar about the kiss they shared then, it was a ferocious exchange. It was unlike anything she expected for a last time. Her hands were everywhere, her touches fleeting and desperate, Bo was having a hard time reconciling how to capture that moment and remain present.

The urge to feed off Lauren was overwhelming her, drawing her out in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. She fought the yearning with every fiber of her being and found herself in a spiral of passion and desperation. Her fingertips traced the contours of Lauren's skin, her mouth hungrily following their lead.

This wasn't about mourning their relationship anymore. This was about Bo fighting for the right to be with Lauren. She was resolute in her cause and hungry for her touch. Bo was everywhere at once, clinging to the hope that Lauren would see what this meant to her, for them, and understand that Bo wanted only to be with her.

Her mouth covered Lauren's, a wanton display like never before. When Bo pulled away from the kiss, Lauren laid a hand on her face. She knew. She always did. Bo's hunger had the power to destroy everything Bo knew and loved but she also had the power to deny it. To hold Lauren close without stealing her chi, without trailing off into oblivion alone. Bo's hips rocked against hers. She gasped, the slick slide of Bo against her core was almost too much for Lauren.

"Bo," she moaned.

Only then did Bo feel Lauren's need. Her outright appeal for Bo to finish what she had started. Her mouth closed over Lauren's and took her breath away. Bo held her chin in her hand as her tongue darted out over her lips. In the chaos of that moment, Bo realized she wasn't alone in her need. Lauren was trapped there in that instant with her, hanging on the edge of the precipice.

"Bo," she pleaded.

She was close, so close to having what she wanted. To stealing it back from the specter of their demise. She clung to Lauren as their hips moved in time, a frantic march to a climax like no other. When their bodies stilled and Bo's breath quieted, Lauren wrapped her up in her arms and shushed away her tears.

This wasn't the end. She knew that at her very core, but the sadness of their separation still weighed heavily on her heart. "I love you," Bo whispered before fading into slumber.

* * *

A few hours had passed when Lauren woke to the sound of shuffling. Her bed was empty.

"Bo?" Lauren sat up in bed, pulling the sheet around her.

"I'm just going to leave before this gets awkward," she said stepping into her pants.

"Bo?" she said again. Bo held her shirt against her chest and met Lauren's gaze. "Don't go."

She pulled her shirt over her head and walked to the bed, sitting on the edge. "Lauren…"

"I know what I said. I also know what happened between us tonight and I can't let you go." Her hand covered Bo's.

Bo let her words sink in and lifted Lauren's hand and held it against her chest. "Then don't."

Lauren looked away and Bo felt rejection looming.

Only when Lauren's mouth covered her own again, did Bo understand that their separation had been just as hard on Lauren. That she had only let herself dream of a moment like this and now that it was here, neither one of them knew how to proceed.

"Come back to bed," she said finally.

And with those words, Bo knew a wrong would be righted. The indelible mark Lauren had left on her heart would no longer feel like scar tissue. Instead, it was alive again, thumping against her chest, racing at the proximity of her lover. It wasn't the end by any stretch of the imagination. She had asked Lauren to free them from this self-imposed separation, to loosen the grip on her heart and to take her back and Lauren had responded with love and understanding. This was far from over.

"I'm not going anywhere," Bo said as she climbed into bed again.

* * *

Fin.


End file.
